Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument New Mexico Science Plan U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management Bureau of Land Management Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument Science Plan 1: INTRODUCTION AND SCIENTIFIC MISSION ................................................................................................................... 1 1.1: PURPOSE OF NLCS SCIENCE PLANS ........................................................................................................................................................1 1.2: UNIT AND GEOGRAPHIC AREA DESCRIPTION ..........................................................................................................................................2 1.3: JOHN D. DINGELL, JR. CONSERVATION, MANAGEMENT, AND RECREATION ACT OF 2019 ..........................................................5 1.4: SCIENTIFIC MISSION OF THE UNIT ...........................................................................................................................................................5 2: SCIENTIFIC BACKGROUND OF THE NLCS UNIT............................................................................................................ 6 2.1: COMPLETED RESEARCH AND SCIENCE AVAILABLE ON OMDPNM ....................................................................................................6 2.1.1: Fish, Wildlife, and Habitat ......................................................................................................................................................... 6 2.1.2: Special Status Species ............................................................................................................................................................... 12 2.1.3: Vegetative Communities .......................................................................................................................................................... 15 2.1.4: Livestock Grazing ....................................................................................................................................................................... 18 2.1.5: Wildland Fire Ecology and Management ......................................................................................................................... 19 2.1.6: Geological Resources (including minerals and Cave/Karst) ................................................................................... 25 2.1.7: Paleontological Resources ...................................................................................................................................................... 32 2.1.8: Soil Resources ............................................................................................................................................................................... 36 2.1.9: Water Resources ......................................................................................................................................................................... 41 2.1.10: Air Quality ................................................................................................................................................................................... 43 2.1.11: Cultural Resources................................................................................................................................................................... 47 2.1.12: Wilderness................................................................................................................................................................................... 51 2.1.13 Recreation .................................................................................................................................................................................... 51 2.1.14: Socioeconomics ......................................................................................................................................................................... 52 2.2: ONGOING RESEARCH AND SCIENCE ON ORGAN MOUNTAINS-DESERT PEAKS NATIONAL MONUMENT.................................. 54 4: MEETING SCIENCE NEEDS ................................................................................................................................................. 64 4.1: SCIENCE NEEDS RESPONSIBILITIES ...................................................................................................................................................... 64 4.2. COLLABORATION AND PARTNERSHIPS ................................................................................................................................................. 65 5: SCIENCE PROTOCOLS.......................................................................................................................................................... 66 5.1. GENERAL SCIENCE GUIDELINES............................................................................................................................................................. 66 5.2. AUTHORIZATION AND TRACKING PROCESS .......................................................................................................................................... 66 6: ORGANIZATION AND COMMUNICATION OF COMPLETED SCIENCE ................................................................. 69 6.1 SCIENTIFIC BACKGROUND NEEDED FOR UPDATES ............................................................................................................................. 69 6.2. INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS AND TRACKING ................................................................................................................................... 69 6.3. COMMUNICATION TO THE BROADER BLM ORGANIZATION ............................................................................................................ 69 6.4. COMMUNICATION OF SCIENTIFIC RESULTS TO THE PUBLIC ............................................................................................................ 69 7: INTEGRATING SCIENCE INTO MANAGEMENT ........................................................................................................... 70 7.1. COMMUNICATIONS ................................................................................................................................................................................... 70 7.2. INTEGRATION ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 70 8: SCIENCE PLAN REVIEW AND APPROVAL .................................................................................................................... 71 9: BIBLIOGRAPHY (EXCEPT SECTIONS 2.1.6, 2.1.7) .................................................................................................... 72 10: BIBLIOGRAPHY (SECTIONS 2.1.6, 2.1.7 ONLY) ...................................................................................................... 78 11: UNIT’S LEGISLATION ..................................................................................................................................................... 116 1: INTRODUCTION AND SCIENTIFIC MISSION 1.1: Purpose of NLCS Science Plans The National Landscape Conservation System (NLCS) was administratively established in 2000 and legislatively codified in the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 (PL 111-011 2009). It was subsequently renamed National Conservation Lands, but still uses the NLCS acronym. The system encompasses nearly 900 units spread across approximately 27 million acres of public lands managed by the U.S. Department of the Interior (USDI), Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The BLM is mandated to conserve, protect, and restore the outstanding cultural, ecological, and scientific values of NLCS units. Scientific investigation can aid in the conservation, protection, and restoration of these lands; and therefore, science is strategically planned and organized within NLCS units. The objectives of NLCS units’ science plans are to: ● Identify the scientific mission of the unit; ● Summarize past scientific efforts in the unit, i.e. the scientific background of the unit; ● Identify the priority needs and management issues within the unit that can be addressed by scientific inquiry; ● Define a strategy for accomplishing the scientific goals of the unit; ● Develop science protocols to, for example, ensure that scientific inquiry does not negatively impact the long-term sustainability of the unit and its resources; ● Create a system to organize scientific reports; and, ● Help and promote the integration of science into management. The science plans of NLCS units are considered “living” documents and should be revised and updated frequently. Scientific needs that emerge during the course of implementing a science plan may be added to the plan on an as-needed basis to meet the unit’s scientific mission. This science plan will be used as the basis for conducting science in Organ Mountain-Desert Peaks National Monument (OMDPNM or Monument). Science has been defined within the BLM several times (USDI, BLM 2007, 2008). For this plan, science is defined as the study of natural and social phenomena using repeatable observations or experiments. In the context of land management, scientific data are collected, analyzed, or synthesized to increase knowledge and support decision-making. Within NLCS units there is